The High Court · 2025

...Peti1 ioner/Accused No.39 '17. Bondari Srikanth, S/o.Kurma Gangaram, Aged 21 yrs, Occ: Student, Rio.H.No.65, Bichkunda lvlandal, Gopanpalle, Hasgal, t li;:amabad Dist, ...Petil ioner/Accused No.41 18 Dhirbassy Pravinder, S/o.D. Gulab Singh, Aged 20 y s Occ Student, R/o. H No 3-87/ 1, lr,4argram Tanda, lvlandal Bazarhathnoor, It:mbi Adilabad Dist, . ... Petit ioner/Accu sed No.43 '19. Sirpuram Ramesh, S/o.S.Pedda Rajanna, Aged 2.1 yrs, Occ: Student, Rio.H No.4-12, tt4adhapoor, Jakranpally. Nizamabad Di:;t. ...Petil ioner/Accused No.52 20. lr.4udavath Srinivas, S/o.M. Krishna, Aged 21 yrs, Occ litudent, R/o.H.No.4- 102, Chouta Gadda Thanda, Jadcherla Mandal, Gollrlp,aily, t\,4ahabubnagar Dist, ... Petitionr: r/Acc used No.57 2'1 . Suthari Sairam, S/o Chinna Venkatesh, Aged 2-" yrs, Occ: Student, R/o.H.No.3-41l1, Thipraspal Mahabubnagar Dist ... Petit ic,ner/Accu sed No.63 22.Salla Bhanu Chander, S/o S Narayana, Aged 22 yrs Occ.. Student, R/o H.No.3-5-166/1 Kagalle Mandalam, Nizamabad Dist. ...Petitic ner/Accused No.65 23. Kandepally Balraj, S/o.K.Gangadar, Aged 24 yts, Occ fjtudent, R/o.H.No 5- 62, Tadbiloli, Renlal l\,4andalam, Nizamabad ...Petitic,ner/Accused No.66 AND

1. The Union of lndia, Rep by its lndian Railway Ministry, l.[ew Delhi. 2. The Soutt- Central Railways Secunderabad, Rep by its Chief General l\,4anager, Railvray Nilayam, Secunderabad.

3. Sri. T. Nagarluna Reddy, Sub - lnspector of Railway Police Force, Rep by its Central Government, Standing Council High court at Hy lerrabad. ...Resp()n dents/Com plaina nt Petition under Section 528 of BNSS praying that n the circumstances stated in the Nilernorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition ,.he High Court may be pieased to quash the criminal proceedings against the p et itioner/Accu sed No. 1,2,3,6,9, 10, 11, 12, 19,23,26,27,30,37,38,39,41 ,43 ti2,57,63,65,66 in C.C.No.483 of 2024 in Crime No.281 of 2022 io Re.ilway police Force, Secunderabad, on the file of ll Metropolitan Magistrate For Railways at Secunderabad, offences registered U/Sec, '147, 145 (b), 145 (c), 146, 114(a) ot Railway Act, 1989. l.A. NO: 1OF 2025 Petition under Section 528 of BNSS praying that n the circumstances stated in the [vlemorandum of Grounds of Criminal petition the High Court may be pleased to stay all further proceedings in CC No. 483 ot '.1A24 in Crime.No.281 of 2022 on the f le of ll Metropolitan Magistrate for Railwayr; at Secunderabad, including appearance of the petitioners. This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the l,'lemorandun] of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Ms. N. Chandrika Rao, Advocate for the Petitioners and the lvlr. N. Avaneesh, SC for Railways, for the Respondents. The Court made the following: ORDER *!"r.G.-"+_y / I ._l --7 I I I HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE J. SREE.V]IVAS RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No. 16047 of 1|Ct25 DATE: O5.12.2025 Between : Pulla Satish zutd tt cnty two others AND Thc Union ol India. Rep. by its [n,:liar-r Railu'a1, Ministry, Ne\\' Delhi and trr,o orhers. Petitioners Respondents :ORDER: This Criminal Peririon has been filed under Se,:tion 528 Bharatiya Nagank Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, ,BNSS) by the peritioncrs/'acc u sed Nos.1 to 3, 6, 9 to 12, 19, 23, 2i. 27, 30, 37 to 39. 41, 43, 52, :;7, 63, 65 and 66 seeking to quash the proceedings ir-r C.C.No.483 of 2024 on the hle of the II Metropolitan Magistrate for Railu.ays at Secunderabad, for the offences under Sections 147, 145(b), 145(c), 146 and 174(a) of Rarlways Act, 1989.

2. Heard Ms. N. Chandrika Rao, learned counsel firr the petitioners, and Mr- N. Avareesh, learned Standing Counsel appering for the respondents.

3. The case of the prosecution is that on lT.O6.2)i22 at about 0g.4S hours, the unemplo,ved youth and army job aspiranLs organized ,Rail 2 Roko Agltation' at Secunderabad Railway Station with a demald to carLcel the 'Agnipath Scheme iaunched by the Central Govcrnmetn for shorl service recruitment in the Indian Army; that about 1000 to 1 500 youth by carrying flags, banners and rods cntered into Secundcrabad Railrvay Station by track and by overthrowing the gatc duty bandobusth staff, obstructing railway cmployees in discha-rging their duties; that the youth shouted slogals against the Central Government Policies, rarsacked and damaged huge quantity of railway property inclu<ling passenger amenities, CCTV cameras, burnt the coaches, pelted stones on railu,ay machinery/equipment, including Engines and police pcrsonnel/ RPF on duty ald broke all the coach windor.vs of trains stabled on platforms; that the agiLators did not obcy the instructions of thc police and RPF and continued with pelting stones; and that as a prccautionary measu.re in saving the lives of the passengers and safe guarding the railway property, a-ll the trains were carcelled. Basing on the said facts, the present crime is registered against the petitioners for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 1a5(b), 1a5(c), 146 at-td 17 4{a) of Railways Act. 4 . t earned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the respondent-police have conducted investigation in a haphazard manner and without verifying as to who took part in the alleged 'Rail Roko Agitalion', arrayed the petitioners herein as accused in the present case. She further submitted that there are no specific allegations against the petitioners herein and that they were only members of the whats app , .. +fu^.14=;.47 ,/ -) T I I I : 1 group of armly- job aspirants. The petitioners have :r,rt committed emy offence as alleged in lhe complaint. Mcre presenct: i f thc petitioncrs at the Secunderab:rd Railu,a.y Station on the date of al eged incident does not attracL the alieged offences against the petitione's. The petitioners are falseiy implicated in the present case basing c r-r the confessional staLements of the co'accused, u'hich is abuse of piocess of law and is causing hardship to the petitioners and spc ling their bright ernployment prospccts, Shc furlher submilted that tlrc subject matter is squarely covered by thc order, dated 01.05.2025, pa ssed by this Court in Crl.P.No.2674 oi 2025, and therefore, pra1,,:rl to quash the proccedings in the present C.C. against the petitioncrs herein.

5. Learre<l Standing Counscl submilted that tlx: matter requires trial arrd on11 upon conclusion of lull-fledged trial, ,l-e trulh would be elicited. Hc, thcrclorc, praryed to dismiss this CriminrLl Petition.

6. Per-used rhe record. The petitioners are suspclted as agitators in the 'Rail Rokci Agitation' basing on Lhe confessional s;tiltements made to the police oflLcer. Section 25 ol the Indial Evidence Act prohibits the use o[ confessions made to a police officcr againsr the accused in a criminal trial. Similar matter has been disposed of by a co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Crl.P.No.2674 of 2025, dated 01.O5.2025, wherein the proceeclings against the petitioner therein u,ere quashed by relying on the decision of the Honourable Supreme (lourt in State of \ 4 Haryana v. Bhajan Lal1 and lhe order, dated 04.06'2O24, passed by this Court in Crl.P.No.92 I of 2024, opining that the allegations made in the F.l.R. or complaint are so absurd and inherenlly improbable on lhe basis of which no pmdent persoll carr ever reach to a just conclusiott that there is sufhcient ground for proceeding agalnst the petitioncr therein, Applying the same analogir, this Court is also of the opinion that the proceedings in the present C.C. deserve to be quashed'

7. Hence, the proceedings in C.C.No 483 of 2024 on the file of learned II Metropolital Magistrate for Rartways at Secunderabad, are heretrv quashed against the petitioners herein. 8 Accordingly, the Criminal Pctition is allowed. Miscellaneous applications, pending if arly, shall stand closed sd/- c. DEEPT ASSIST RAR //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER n N/agistrate for Railways at S und Chandrika Rao, Advocate [OpUC] Avaneesh, Standing Counsel for Ra erabad. ilwaysIOPUC] To,

1. The ll l\iletropolita 2. One CC to I\,4s. N 3. One CC to lvlr. N. 4. Two CD Copies Kam/DL v ' r992 sryr{r) scc 335 HIGH COURT DATED:0511212025 ORDER CRLP.No.16047 of 2025 .) I,i 0 i 0E[ ?3?5 r,: 1,.,.,| ) () -a t .', 4 ALLOWING THE CRIMINAL PETITION (, U, %